Eventually, the mine ran dry, workers shifted, another vein was discovered, and a new city was erected, even greater than the last.
They passed houses that sank down to the second level. The roofs, or what was left of them, stood barely taller than a man. The deeper the buildings, the more Erinna knew the way. She just hoped Broman’s workers were off the clock, or at least sequestered in the legitimate veins. The ones below their feet had been condemned decades ago.
But witchstone was still witchstone. Whatever was mined below was free from the regulation of the crown. As long as it was hidden and smuggled secretly off the island, of course.
In a few more turns, Erinna’s knees threatened to buckle.
“Stop. You need to rest, or we won’t make it,” said Inez with a weak pat to Erinna’s shoulders. Erinna obliged. Her father oncesaid that a good diviner was right only half the time, but you’d still be a fool not to listen. It would be best to heed such advice.
They slumped against a dilapidated wall. Old flakes of paint and plaster crumbling to dust beneath their weight.
Silence. They had journeyed far enough into Old Town that the chaos from the Capital City had faded to a dull murmur.
Erinna figured there would be a certain level of madness once Iprix passed, but this was beyond her imagination. She remembered the thud of the bodies falling to the ground. The pain she felt when the mourning bell sounded and the mark appeared on her arm. Filled with more questions than answers, Erinna shook her head.
She could wonder when she got home.
Night would come quickly, and Erinna feared what would happen if they could not find safety by then.
“How are you doing?” Erinna asked.
Inez blinked, her gaze following a circling hawk. “I think it found us.”
Fuck.
A summon.
Erinna scrambled to her feet and grabbed a stray piece of wood. If they were fast enough, they could potentially make it to the mines in time. With her free hand, she dragged Inez to her feet in hopes of making it farther down an alley.
“Stay where you are!”
Three guards rounded the corner, likely directed by the mage who summoned the hawk. In the tight space, there was nowhere to hide, and running would invite more harm than help. There was only one option.
Erinna braced herself as the soldiers closed the distance.
“Weapons down, on the ground!”
Erinna nodded towards Inez to comply. She dropped the useless piece of wood and lowered herself to her knees.
“You have been found aiding and abetting a fugitive of the crown—” a soldier, barely older than Erinna’s own twenty-five years, started the imprisonment rights.
“Isn’t that the Yarrow kid?” she heard one of them whisper, and her stomach sank. After all her scolding,shewould be the downfall of the family.
They dropped their guard for a moment, but that was all Erinna needed. She lunged at the closest man and landed a fist below his chin, causing him to stagger.
Erinna had basic training in defensive dueling, but a head-on fight with three soldiers was ill-advised. It was guaranteed to end in failure—but doing something was better than nothing, and Erinna had at least one advantage.
All her life, Erinna had been vastly underestimated by anyone outside of her close circle. Nothing about her frame suggested danger—just a shipwright’s daughter, lean from hauling timber and supplies for a living. Her strength was real but easy to dismiss. And anyone who knew of her father’s druidic Talent also knew of Erinna’s dearth of ability.
Talentless. Worthless.
That was the soldier’s mistake to make. His hands closed around her arm, fingers digging in with painful force. She had seconds before he understood she wasn’t entirely helpless. Erinna reached for the pommel of his unsheathed sword. The soldier’s fist landed square in her shoulder with a rattling pain. Erinna grunted through the ache and pulled the heavy sword away from her adversary.
Surprise flickered across his face before morphing to fury. Erinna retreated as fast as she could, the tip of the sword aimed at her assailants.
They paused briefly in shock. Erinna only had seconds to flee before they recovered.
Erinna and Inez turned to flee, but another soldier rounded the opposite corner, boxing them into the alley. She raised the sword, steadied her stance, and swung down.
